This topic explains how brining works,
which cuts of meat benefit most from brining, and provides several
recipes to get you started.

What Is Brining?

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Brining is a
method for improving the flavor and moisture content of lean cuts of meat like
chicken, turkey, pork and seafood. This is
achieved by soaking the meat in a moderately salty solution for a few hours to a
few days. Brining also provides a temperature cushion during cooking—if you
happen to overcook the
meat a little, it will still be moist.

At a minimum, a
brine consists of water and salt. Other ingredients may be added for additional flavor, including sugar,
brown sugar, honey, molasses, maple syrup, fruit juices, beer, liquor, bay
leaves, pickling spices, cloves, garlic, onion, chilies, citrus fruits,
peppercorns, and other spices. Some recipes call for bringing
the ingredients to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar and bring out the flavor
of the spices, then cooling the mixture to below 40°F before use.

Sometimes a small amount
of a curing agent like sodium nitrite or Morton Tender Quick (a mixture
of salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and other ingredients) is added to
a brine. These curing agents create a color and taste reminiscent of
ham and help prevent the growth
of botulism. This is important when cold smoking brined meat at
temperatures below 140°F or when smoking a large brined turkey that might
not reach 140°F internal temperature within the first 4 hours of cooking.
Sodium nitrite and Morton Tender Quick can be purchased at butcher
supply stores or from suppliers like Allied
Kenco or Amazon.com. Tender Quick is also sometimes found in larger supermarkets.

It's important to point
out that not everyone likes the effects of brining on meat. Some people
don't like the texture of brined meat, saying that it seems spongy. Others complain about flavor, saying that it makes meat taste too salty (or hammy if
sodium nitrite or Morton Tender Quick has been added to the solution).
In the end, you'll have to try brining and judge the results for yourself.

How
Brining Works

There is general agreement among food scientists that osmosis is the primary force behind brining. The
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
defines osmosis as
"movement of a solvent through a semipermeable membrane (as of a living
cell) into a solution of higher solute concentration that tends to
equalize the concentrations of solute on the two sides of the membrane."

Osmosis
attempts to balance the
distribution of water and salt between meat and brine. Meat is mostly water, about 60-70%, and contains very little salt. When meat is initially brined, salt is drawn from the brine solution into the meat, while some moisture is drawn from the meat into the brine. The meat contains more salt and less water than before it went into the brine.

With a bit more time, the salt begins to work its magic on the meat. Sodium and chloride ions interact with meat proteins, causing tightly wound bundles of protein to unwind and push apart. The muscle fibers relax and weaken, allowing more water and salt and flavorings to penetrate the meat. The meat now contains more salt and more water than before it went into the brine.

The relaxed proteins form a matrix that traps water molecules and holds on to them tightly during cooking, so that the cooked meat retains more moisture even if somewhat overcooked. When eating the cooked meat, it seems more tender because 1) the muscle fibers have been weakened in the brining process, and 2) our perception of tenderness is greatly affected by moisture content; moist meat is softer and perceived as being more tender than dry meat.

Cook's Illustrated magazine brined several 11-pound turkeys for 12 hours and found an average weight gain of 12 ounces after brining and 6-8 ounces after roasting as compared with 11-pound turkeys that had not been brined. In the January/February 2004 issue, Cook's Science Editor John Olson discussed an
experiment in which three chickens were roasted and their weights compared. One
chicken was cooked right out of the package, while the other two were soaked for
the same length of time, one in plain water and the other in a brine solution.
After roasting, the unsoaked chicken retained 82% of its original weight. Both
soaked chickens gained 6% by weight during soaking, but the water chicken
retained 88% of its original weight after roasting while the brined chicken
retained 93% of its original weight. These results show that the salt in the
brine solution plays an important role in moisture retention in meat.

The amount of time needed to brine meat depends on the cut of meat and its thickness. Thin cuts like pork chops and chicken pieces may need only 30-60 minutes of brine time, while a whole turkey can brine for 6-12 hours, with some recipes going as long as 24-48 hours. See How Long To Brine for details.

Meats
That Benefit From Brining

Lean cuts of meat
with mild flavor tend to benefit most from brining. The usual
suspects include:

Chicken:
whole, butterflied, or pieces

Cornish Hens:
whole or butterflied

Turkey:
whole, butterflied, or pieces

Pork:
chops, loin, tenderloin, fresh ham

Seafood:
salmon, trout, shrimp

Poultry is probably
the most commonly brined meat because it is naturally lean and
gets quite dry if overcooked. Lean cuts of pork are also good
candidates for the same reasons as poultry, except that in the case of
pork, much of the fat (and thus flavor) has been intentionally bred out
of the animal by an industry intent on providing "the other white meat" to health-conscious consumers.

Beef, lamb, duck, and
other meats with high fat content and bold flavors do not benefit from brining—they're
naturally moist and flavorful. They also tend to be
cooked to lower internal temperatures and thus
don't lose as much of their natural moisture.

Pork butt is not
commonly brined because of its naturally high fat content, yet there are
some recipes that do so. Brisket
can be brined to become corned beef or pastrami depending on the
seasonings used in the brine.

Which
Salt To Use

Table salt is preferred for brining. Table salt is inexpensive and dissolves easily in water with some stirring. Canning and pickling salt is essentially the same thing as table salt but contains no iodine or anti-caking agent.

There's no reason to use more expensive salts like kosher salt or sea salt. Some people say that
kosher salt tastes "cleaner" than table salt because it does not contain
the anti-caking agents added to table salt. Some people prefer
non-iodized table salt over iodized table salt, believing that potassium
iodide creates an off-taste. But any flavor differences melt away
when salt is diluted in large quantities of water in a brine. In an article about
salt in the September/October 2002 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine, taste testers felt that nine different salts "all tasted pretty much the
same" when dissolved in water, whether it was
36¢/pound iodized table salt, 66¢/pound kosher salt, or $36/pound
Fleur de Sel de Camargue sea salt from France.

Having said all that, it's perfectly fine to use kosher salt or sea salt in a brine if that's your preference.

Kosher salt consists of big, flaky crystals while table salt consists of small, sand-like crystals. As a result, they don't measure the same by volume. A cup of table salt will contain a lot more salt crystals and will be much more salty in a brine solution than a cup of kosher salt. However, all salts have the same saltiness when measured by weight.

Table salt weighs about 10
ounces per cup, while kosher salt weighs 5-8 ounces per cup depending
on the brand. If using kosher salt in a brine, you must use more than
a cup to achieve the same salt flavor you would get from a
cup of table salt.

This table shows
equivalent amounts of table salt and the two most popular brands of
kosher salt in the United States.

Table Salt

1
cup

Morton
Kosher Salt

1-1/2
cups

Diamond Crystal
Kosher Salt

2 cups

Morton Kosher Salt
weighs about 7.7 ounces per cup, making it three-fourths as strong as
table salt. Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt weighs about 5 ounces per cup,
making it half as strong as table salt.

What should you do when using a brand of salt not listed here? For any type of salt—sea salt, pickling salt, or kosher salt—measuring 10 ounces of salt on a
kitchen scale will give you the equivalent of 1 cup of table
salt.

How Long To
Brine

The length of time meat
soaks in a brine depends on the type of meat and its size, as well
as the amount of salt used in the brine—the saltier the brine mixture,
the shorter the soaking time. Here are common brining times found in
many recipes:

Whole
Chicken

1/2-1 hour

Chicken Pieces

1/2-1 hour

Whole
Turkey

6-12
hours or overnight

Turkey Breast - Bone-In

3-6 hours

Cornish
Game Hens

1/2-1 hour

Pork Chops

1/2-1 hour

Pork
Tenderloin

1/2-1 hour

Whole Pork Loin

2-3 hours

It is possible to end up
with meat that's too salty for your taste, so you may want to brine on the
low end of the time range to see how it turns out. You can always
brine longer next time, but there's no way to unbrine a piece of meat
that's been brined too long.

Choosing A Container

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You'll need a
non-reactive container large enough to
hold the meat and the brine. Best bets include:

Also, keep in mind that
the bigger the container, the more brine you'll have to make, so match the
size of the container to the meat.

The meat must be
completely submerged in the solution during the brining process. Place a heavy ceramic plate or bowl on
top of the meat to prevent it from floating in the brine.

Estimating The Amount of Brine
To Make

Place the meat in the container and cover with plain
water. Remove the meat and measure the remaining water to determine the
amount of brine solution you'll need to make.

No Need To Adjust Solution When Brining More Meat

If a recipe calls for brining 4 chicken breasts in 2 quarts of water with 1/4 cup of salt, there's no problem increasing to 6 or 8 chicken breasts as long as all the meat is submerged in the brine solution. It's the ratio of salt to water that matters, not the amount of meat being brined.

Refrigeration Is
Required

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Brining does
not preserve meat. The meat and brine solution must be kept below 40°F
at all times.

If storing the meat in
the refrigerator during brining, check to make sure that the container
will fit in your refrigerator. A container large enough to hold a whole
turkey might be too big for your fridge.

If storing the meat in a
cooler during brining, you must keep the meat and brine cold without
diluting the mixture. Put the meat and brine directly in the cooler, then
place Ziploc bags filled with ice or reusable gel packs into the
brine solution. Another approach is to put the meat and brine into a
turkey oven roasting bag
inside the cooler, then pack ice or gel packs around the bag. Monitor
the temp of the brine to make sure it stays below 40°F at all times.

To Rinse Or Not To
Rinse After Brining

Some recipes call for rinsing meat after brining, while others skip this step. Do whatever the recipe calls for.
Rinsing is common in recipes with a very high salt concentration or
that contain sugar, since sugar can
burn on the surface of meat during cooking.

Regardless of whether
you rinse or not, make sure to pat the meat dry with paper towels before
cooking.

Air-Drying
Brined Poultry Skin

Cooking brined poultry
at "low & slow" temperatures of 225-250°F can result in
soft, rubbery skin. One solution is to
place brined poultry on a rack over a rimmed baking sheet pan, pat
it dry with paper towels, and let it sit uncovered in the refrigerator
for several hours. This allows some moisture to evaporate from the skin so
it browns better. Try 4-6 hours for chicken and 12-24 hours for turkey.

Probably the best way
to get better skin on brined poultry is to cook in the 325-350°F range.
The higher temperature gets the fat under the skin hot enough so that it
browns the skin.

Brining Enhanced Meat & Self-Basted Turkeys

Enhanced meat is injected by the
manufacturer with a
solution of water, salt, and other ingredients to enhance the moisture
content and flavor of the meat. Examples include Butterball self-basted
turkey and Swift Premium Guaranteed Tender Pork.

Many people prefer to
brine meat that's not enhanced so they have total control over the
flavors being adding to the meat. If you choose to brine enhanced meat,
take care to not brine it too long, or the meat may turn out too salty.
Having said that, there are people who like to brine self-basted
turkeys and report that they do not turn out too salty.

See
Enhanced Meat for information on how to
identify enhanced meat in the supermarket.

Brining Water-Chilled Vs. Air-Chilled Chicken

Most chicken sold in the United States is water-chilled during slaughter. The chickens are quickly cooled by immersing them in a tank of ice-cold, chlorinated water. The chicken absorbs some water in the chilling process; this is disclosed on the package by a statement such as "May contain up to XX percent retained water". In contrast, air-chilled chicken is cooled by moving chickens through a series of refrigerated chambers over several hours, a more time-consuming and costly process. These chickens are sanitized with a chlorine mist but are not submerged in water and thus don't absorb much water during processing.

An article in the May/June 2014 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine suggests that you will get better results from brining air-chilled chicken versus water-chilled chicken. Their tests showed that air-chilled chicken absorbed 3.5 times as much brine as water-chilled chicken. After cooking, the air-chilled chicken retained 25% more moisture and was noticeably juicier and better seasoned than water-chilled chicken. The reason for this result is that retained water limits the ability of water-chilled chicken to take-up the brine solution, so not as much salt gets into the meat to work its magic.

Can you brine water-chilled chicken? Of course, that's what most people are brining every day. But you may like the results better if you can find an air-chilled chicken at the supermarket. Cook's suggests that water-chilled chicken may be better off salted than brined.

Low-Salt Brining
Doesn't Work

Some people find
that brined meat is just too salty for their tastes. Will a
brine still work if you cut the amount of salt in half? Not according to
the November/December 2002 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine.

Cook's brined shrimp,
pork chops, and whole chicken in a full-strength solution and a
half-strength solution for 1 hour per pound. After cooking and tasting,
they found that the meats brined at half-strength were a lot less salty
than those brined at full-strength, but the improvement in moisture
content was marginal, at best. In fact, for shrimp and chicken, Cook's
felt that there was no point in brining at half-strength at all.

"If you are very
sensitive to salt, we recommend that you skip brining," says Cook's.

Using Salt Substitutes In A Brine

Cook's tried using salt substitutes in a brine solution and found that they work. They recommend using a salt substitute that contains a mix of sodium chloride and potassium chloride, as products containing potassium chloride only produced an off-taste, in their opinion.

Brine Should Not Be Reused

Discard the brine solution
after use. The brine will contain proteins, blood, and other stuff from
the meat that soaked in it. From a food safety standpoint, it is not
advisable to reuse brine, even if it is boiled first.

Freezing Brined Meat

Meat can be brined and frozen for later use. As with any meat that is frozen and thawed, some texture and moisture is sacrificed because ice crystals damage the meat cells in the freezing process. The issues of freezer burn and changes in color and taste with prolonged freezing also apply.

How Much Sodium Is In Brined Meats?

An article in the May/June 2014 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine discussed how much sodium is in brined meats. Cook's prepared cooked samples of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boneless center-cut pork chops, and skinless salmon fillets that they had brined for their standard recommended brining times and sent them to an independent lab for analysis. They also tested cooked samples soaked only in water so that naturally occurring sodium could be accounted for and subtracted. They found that brining added 270 milligrams of sodium (equivalent to less than 1/8 teaspoon of salt) to the chicken breast, 218 milligrams of sodium (less than 1/8 teaspoon of salt) to the pork chop, and 173 milligrams of sodium (just over 1/16 teaspoon of salt) to the salmon fillet.

To put these results into context, The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommend less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily for people under 51 and less than 1,500 milligrams daily for people 51 and older.

Stir the salt and water in a non-reactive container until dissolved. Make enough brine to submerge the meat completely. There is generally no need to rinse the meat after using either brine listed above, just pat dry with paper towels.

Good for any size turkey as long as it is completely submerged in the brine solution.

Combine apple juice, brown sugar, and salt in a large saucepan. Bring to a
boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Boil for one minute, remove from
heat, let mixture come to room temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F.

In a large non-reactive container, combine the apple juice mixture with the
remaining ingredients. When adding the oranges, squeeze each piece to release the juice into the container, then drop in
the peel. Brine turkey for 24 hours. Rinse turkey inside and out after brining and pat dry with paper towels. Brush turkey skin with vegetable oil or melted butter before cooking.

Good for any size turkey as long as it is completely submerged in the brine solution.

Combine all ingredients except ice water in a large pot. Bring to a
boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve. Remove from heat, let mixture come to room
temperature, then refrigerate to 40°F.

In a large non-reactive container, combine the mixture with 1 gallon
heavily iced water and stir. Place rinsed, drained whole turkey
into the brine. Use a heavy weight to keep the bird submerged, if
necessary. Brine turkey for 6-8 hours. Turn the bird over once during
brining. Rinse turkey inside and out after brining and pat dry with paper towels. Apply a thin coat of
canola oil before cooking.

More
Brine Recipes & Related Articles

If you're interested in learning more about the brining process, check-out these books:

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